Vacuum cleaning appliance with telescopic handle

ABSTRACT

A vacuum cleaning appliance operated by an electric motor and having a telescopic handle with a hand grip. For greater ease of use, the hand grip is detachable and capable of being attached between a telescopic middle piece and an anchoring point on the handle to the appliance.

FIELD AND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a vacuum cleaning appliance which isoperated by an electric motor and having a telescopic handle which isprovided with a hand grip.

Such vacuum cleaners are well known. By means of the telescopic handle,the hand grip can be brought to an ergonomically favorable height ofuse. For this purpose, the telescopic handle generally has severaldetent attachment positions which can be released by depressing a lock(-release) button. Furthermore, it is also known to detach such a handlefrom the vacuum cleaner by a lock button in order to be able to use thehandle for another appliance. The location of the hand grip on the freeend of a telescopic handle is disadvantageous for various tasks. Thus,for instance, it is difficult to manipulate the vacuum cleaner for workclose to the floor. Furthermore, when vacuuming cushions or the like thevacuum cleaner which is provided in this case with a suction hose isvery inconvenient to handle.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to develop a vacuum cleaningappliance of this type in such a manner that it is easier to use.

As a result of the development of the invention, a vacuum cleaningappliance of this type is easier to handle. This is due, in particular,to the fact that the hand grip is removable and can be attached betweena telescopic middle piece and an anchoring point for the handle on theappliance. When working close to the floor or when vacuuming cushions orthe like, the hand grip can be removed from the handle and fastened at adifferent place on the handle. This is done preferably in the regionwhere the handle enters into the motor housing of the vacuum cleaningappliance. In this way, the handle is arranged close to the center ofgravity of the vacuum cleaner, which is an advantage with respect, inparticular, to its ease of use. Such an arrangement is that the handleis located between the telescopic middle piece and an anchoring pointfor the handle on the appliance. For this purpose, the telescopic handleis lengthened in ordinary fashion by means of a locking button,whereupon the hand grip is inserted between the telescopic middle pieceand the anchoring point for the handle on the appliance. In thisconnection, it is also possible that, after the positioning of the handgrip in the indicated region, the telescopic middle piece is pushed backagain in the direction towards the anchoring point for the handle, alocking being thereby effected between the hand grip and the telescopicmiddle piece. This lock also can be opened by a lock button. The handgrip is thus form-locked (held by the shape of the parts) in the regionclose to the center of gravity of the vacuum cleaner. Particularly whenvacuuming cushions, in which case the vacuum cleaner is provided, forinstance, with a suction hose, such an arrangement of the hand grip isof particular advantage ergonometrically since particularly in this casethe vacuum cleaner is frequently carried and thus the arrangement of thehand grip close to the center of gravity of the vacuum cleaner isfavorable. The hand grip can advantageously be arranged on one end ofthe handle. This arrangement is advantageous, in particular, withordinary vacuuming of carpets or the like. In this case also, the handgrip is arranged, via a detent, on the end of the handle. The detent canbe opened by means of a lock button. In known manner, the telescopichandle can be lengthened so as to permit an ergonomically optimaladaptation to the height of the user. The hand grip which is formed inthis manner can be detached from the end of the handle by means of thelock button and, as described above, fastened to the handle at a pointcloser to the center of gravity. It is particularly advantageous in thisconnection for the handle to have a stationary base rod on which thetelescopic middle piece can be displaced. Upon the displacement of thetelescopic middle piece, a free space is formed between the telescopicmiddle piece and the anchoring point for the handle or of the base rodof the handle, into which space the hand grip can be inserted. In thisconnection, a form-locked attachment of the hand grip to the base rod ofthe handle can also be formed. In an advantageous further development,the feeding of current takes place by a cable which extends into thehand grip. In combination with an on/off switch arranged in the handgrip this results in advantageous handling of the vacuum cleaner. Thisdevelopment is furthermore optimized in the manner that the hand griphas at least one plug-like pin for the electrical connection to thetelescopic middle piece. The current is in this case supplied via thehand grip which has the current feed and the on/off switch and thetelescopic middle piece which is connected by the plug with the handgrip, in which connection the telescopic middle piece has cable loops orthe like which are passed through the base rod of the handle into themotor housing. In this way, in every position in length of thetelescopic handle the supply of current to the motor of the vacuumcleaner is assured. In this connection, the telescopic middle pieceadvantageously has a receptacle for the plug-like pin at both ends. Theclosing of the circuit is thus assured both when the hand grip isarranged on the end of the handle and when it is arranged between thetelescopic middle piece and the anchoring point for the handle on theappliance. In this connection, the hand grip can be provided, forinstance, with two plug-like pins and the telescopic middle piece atboth ends with in each case two corresponding receptacles, similar to aplug-receptacle arrangement. In order to produce a dependablearrangement of the hand grip both on one end of the telescopic middlepiece and on its other end, the hand grip has an attachment flange onwhich the plug-like pin is also formed and the attachment flange isarranged eccentrically with respect to the lengthwise direction of thehand grip. In this connection, the hand grip can be so formed that it isarranged parallel to but offset axially from the handle, the attachmentflange of the hand grip being seated in an extension of the handle. Thisattachment flange can furthermore have a recess which corresponds to theouter contour of the base rod of the handle. In this connection, afork-shaped development of the attachment flange may be advantageous. Itis possible to develop the forked arms so that they are slightlyresilient, in which case, upon the placing of the hand grip on the baserod, which is exposed, upon the telescoping of the handle, in the regionbetween the telescopic middle piece and the anchoring point for thehandle on the appliance side, said arms clip around the hand grip,whereby a form-lock is already obtained here. If, the telescopic middlepiece is then engaged with the handle, as already described, along withwhich the plug-like pin enters into the corresponding receptacle, anoptimal form-lock is obtained. Finally it is also advantageous for theeccentric arrangement to be such that only a slight overlap is formedbetween the hand grip and the telescopic middle piece. The developmentis such that the hand grip rests, in the region of the slight lengthwiseoverlap, with the telescopic middle piece against the outer wall of themiddle piece. The substantially larger part of the hand grip, seen inlengthwise direction, extends, when the hand grip is arranged on the endof the handle, beyond the latter, which means a lengthening of thehandle. When the hand grip is arranged in the region between thetelescopic middle piece and the anchoring point for the handle on theappliance side, the part of the hand grip protruding in theabove-described position now rests on the motor housing or the like.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

With the above and other advantages in view, the present invention willbecome more clearly understood in connection with the detaileddescription of the preferred embodiment, when considered with theaccompanying drawings, of which:

FIG. 1 shows a vacuum cleaning appliance in accordance with theinvention in front view, a hand grip being arranged on one end of thehandle;

FIG. 2 shows the vacuum cleaning appliance of FIG. 1, in a side view;

FIG. 3 shows the vacuum cleaning appliance with the hand grip removedfrom the end of the handle and placed in the region between a telescopicmiddle piece and an anchoring point for the handle on the appliance;

FIG. 4 shows the next step after FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a following step in which the hand grip is fastened betweenthe telescopic middle piece and the anchoring point for the handle;

FIG. 6 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1, but with the arrangement ofthe hand grip in accordance with FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a side view of the hand grip;

FIG. 8 is a front view of the hand grip;

FIG. 9 is a top view of the hand grip;

FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view showing electrical connection between ahand grip via a telescoping handle to a motor housing with the griplocated at an end of the handle distant from the motor housing;

FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing electrical connection between ahand grip via a telescoping handle to a motor housing with the griplocated at a central portion of the telescopic handle adjacent the motorhousing;

FIG. 12 is a fragmentary view of an interface between a base rod of thehandle and a movable portion of the handle showing a latchingarrangement; and

FIG. 13 is diagrammatic fragmentary view of a connection between thehand grip and the movable part of the handle wherein a lock button onthe handle is located for releasing a spring loaded detent of the handgrip.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

The vacuum cleaner 1 shown is developed as a manually operatedappliance. It has a housing 2 adjoining which, towards the top, there isa handle 3 having a hand grip 4 at its end. Within the hand grip 4,there is a thumb-actuated on/off switch 5. The connection for theelectric cord or cable 6 is arranged on the end of the hand grip 4facing the user, opposite the on/off switch 5.

The housing 2 is divided into a motor housing 7 and a chamber 8extending above it to receive a filter bag. The motor fan has not beenshown in detail in the drawing.

The motor housing 7 passes at the bottom into a pipe coupling 9 whichprovides the air-flow connection to a suction nozzle 10.

The suction nozzle 10 can be a so-called suction/brush nozzle, whichcontains, within the mouth of the nozzle, a brush roller which is placedin rotation by a separate drive.

The handle 3 is telescopic, it having a stationary base rod 11 on whicha telescopic middle piece 12 is displaceable after actuation of a lockbutton 13. The base rod 11 has an anchoring of the appliance 14 on theend associated with the housing 2, which anchoring can engage in thehousing 2. This engagement can also be released by a button 15, so thatthe entire handle 3 can be removed from the vacuum cleaner 1.

At the two ends 16, 17 of the telescopic middle piece 12, there are twocylindrically shaped receptacles 18 directed in the lengthwise directionof the handle 3. These receptacles 18 serve for feeding the current,they being connected electrically, via cable loops (not shown) arrangedwithin the telescopic handle 3, to the motor which is arranged in themotor housing 7. These cable loops extend from the receptacles 18,passing through the base rod 11, up into the motor housing 7. Thereceptacles 18 form a coupling for receiving a plug on the hand grip.

As can be noted in particular from FIG. 7, the hand grip 4 hasessentially the shape of half a hexagon and has a correspondingly shapedopening 19 for easier handling. The cross section of the gripping pieceformed in this way is substantially circular. The aforementioned on/offswitch 5 is arranged in the front end region of the hand grip 4 whichcan be reached by the thumb.

Said end always faces in the direction of the handle 3 or of thetelescopic middle piece 12. On its bottom 20 facing the handle 3, anattachment flange 21 is formed on the hand grip 4. This attachmentflange is fork-shaped and has a greater width in the directiontransverse to the length of the hand grip 4 than the hand grip 4 does inits gripping region. The width of the attachment flange 21, in its turn,corresponds to the width of the telescopic middle piece 12. The outercontour of the attachment flange 21 also corresponds to that of thetelescopic middle piece 12. The pipe receiver 22 formed by the forkshape of the attachment flange 21 has the same width as the base rod 11.Within the region of the fork arms 23, 24 of the attachment flange 21there is arranged in each case a plug-like pin 25. These pins 25 pointin the direction towards the telescopic middle piece 12 provided withthe hand grip 4, the pins 25 being connected to the electric cable 6 viathe on/off switch 5.

The arrangement of the attachment flange 21 on the hand grip 4 is suchthat the attachment flange 21 is eccentric with respect to thelengthwise direction of the hand grip 4. In the embodiment shown, thearrangement is specifically such that the attachment flange 21 iseccentric, tending in the direction towards the place of connection tothe telescopic middle piece 12. In this way, there results a certainlengthwise overlap a between the hand grip 4 and the telescopic middlepiece 12, the ratio of the length of overlap a to the total length b ofthe hand grip 4 being about 1:12.

The hand grip 4 is on its bottom 20 provided in the overlap region awith a detent projection 26. It serves to lock the hand grip 4 on thetelescopic middle piece 12, the latter having, for the unlocking, acorresponding lock button 27 both in the region of the one end of thetelescopic middle piece 12 and in the region of the other end thereof.

If the vacuum cleaner 1 is used in traditional manner for the vacuumingof carpets or the like, the hand grip 4 is arranged on the free end ofthe handle 3. For this purpose, the hand grip 4 is placed on the end 16of the telescopic middle piece 12, the attachment flange 21 restingagainst the end 16. In this connection, the pins 25 enter into thecorresponding receptacles 18 of the telescopic middle piece 12, wherebythe electric connection of the motor arranged in the motor housing 7 isestablished. Furthermore, the detent projection 26 engages in acorresponding receptacle on the top of the telescopic middle piece 12,the hand grip 4 resting accordingly in the region of its overlap a onthe top of the telescopic middle piece 12. In the embodiment shown, thefar greater part, namely, seen in the lengthwise direction of the handgrip 4, approximately 10/12th of the hand grip 4 extends in thisconnection over the end of the handle 3 so that the latter is extendedby the hand grip 4. For ease in handling, the telescopic middle piece 12can now be pushed on the base rod 11, after unlocking by means of thelock button 13, in order to obtain greater ease of use.

In order to perform, for instance, work close to the floor or to vacuumcushions or the like, it is advisable to remove the hand grip 4 from thefree end of the handle 3 and reattach it. This is done most simply byactuating the lock button 27 on the telescopic middle piece 12, as aresult of which the hand grip 4 can be removed. The hand grip can now bearranged in the region between the telescopic middle piece 12 and theanchoring point 14 of the base rod 11. This process is shown in FIGS. 3to 5.

First of all, the telescopic handle 3 is lengthened in the manner thatthe telescopic middle piece 12 is pulled out on the base rod 11 from theanchoring point 14 after unlocking it by means of the lock button 13. Inthis way, a free space is formed between the end 17 of the telescopicmiddle piece 12 and the anchoring point 14, through which space the baserod 11 extends. In the region of this free space, the hand grip 4 is nowbrought into a position which is turned 180° as compared with itsposition when arranged on the end of the handle 3, the fork arms 23, 24of the attachment flange 21 gripping the base rod 11. In thisconnection, it is also possible to form the fork arms 23, 24resiliently, providing a back-engagement so as to obtain a form lock (aholding by the shape of the parts) of the attachment flange 21 and thebase rod 11. Thereupon the hand grip 4 is pushed in the region of itsattachment flange 21 on the base rod 11 in the direction towards the end17 of the telescopic middle piece 12 until the pins 25 enter into thecorresponding receptacles 18 and the detent projection 26 enters intothe corresponding receptacle of the telescopic middle piece 12 (see FIG.4). Finally, the telescopic middle piece 12, together with the handgrip, is pushed back again in the direction towards the anchoring point14, whereby the telescopic middle piece 12 is engaged in this positionwith the base rod 11. Here also, an electric connection of the motor toa cable connection 6 is established.

The hand grip 4, arranged in this manner, now lies in a favorable regionclose to the center of gravity of the motor housing 2, so that optimalhandling of the vacuum cleaner 1 when working close to the floor or thelike is present. In FIGS. 3 to 6, the vacuum cleaner 1, provided withthe hand grip 4 arranged near the motor housing 2, is provided with asuction hose 28, shown in dashed line, for the vacuuming of cushions orthe like. Particularly in this use, the arrangement of the hand grip 4shown is of particular advantage since specifically with this work thevacuum cleaner 1 must frequently be carried. Electric cabling carryingpower from the power supply to the motor follows a path which is clearfrom the connecting plug, through the hand grip 4 and the alternativeplug connections 18, 25 of the hollow movable middle handle piece 12, tothe transfer point and into the hollow base rod 11 for connection to themotor housing. Consequently, the current is supplied through a cablethat runs through the telescoping handle sections 11, 12, the hand 12having a plug-like pin 25 for connection as a lead to the movable middlehandle piece 12. The current supply in this case is provided through thehand grip 4, provided with the current supply and the on/off switch 5,and also through the middle handle piece 12 that is connected with thehand grip 4 by the plug-like pin 25. The middle handle piece 12 hascable loops or the like which are guided through the instrumenthandle-base rod 11 into the motor housing 7. This is shown in FIGS.10-11 corresponding to FIG. 2, and FIGS. 12-13 corresponding to FIG. 4,in which the respective lead guidance is presented in the "floor vacuumcleaner" operating mode FIGS. 10-11 and in the "above-floor vacuumcleaner" operating mode (FIGS. 12-13). The further path of the leads tothe motor is not the subject of the present invention and can take anumber of forms described in the prior art.

There is a clear interaction between locking button 13 and the holesvisible in base rod 11. The locking button 13 is designed as a rocker,with the actuating knob of the locking button that projects out of themiddle handle piece 12, as viewed in the operating direction, beingoffset from the axis of the locking pin that cooperates with the visibleholes in the base rod 11 for locking. FIG. 12 shows the rockerarrangement described, such construction being known in the prior art.

In the latching of handle 4 with telescopic middle piece 12, latchingdetent projection 26 is not fixed, but is movable under spring action asshown in FIG. 13. Button 27 serves as a triggering button to unlock thelatch. Upon actuation of the button 27, the button 27 pivots around apivot point and pushes the latching detent projection 26 mounted in handgrip 4 out of the opening in the middle handle piece 12 against springforce. This releases the hand grip 4 which can be pulled off the middlehandle piece 12.

What is claimed is:
 1. A vacuum cleaning appliance operated by anelectric motor, comprising:a hand grip; a telescopic handle fastened atan anchoring point on the appliance, the handle comprising a telescopicmiddle piece displaceably mounted relative to said anchoring point, andthe hand grip is detachably mounted on the handle and is fastenablethereon between the telescopic middle piece and the anchoring point ofthe handle on the appliance.
 2. A vacuum cleaning appliance according toclaim 1, wherein the hand grip is also selectively detachably mounted onone end of the handle.
 3. A vacuum cleaning appliance according to claim1, whereinthe handle further comprises a stationary base rod anchored tothe appliance at the anchoring point, and said telescopic middle pieceis displaceably mounted on said base rod.
 4. A vacuum cleaning applianceaccording to claim 1, further comprisingan electric power connectioncord inserted into the hand grip and wherein feeding of current for theelectric motor for operating the vacuum cleaning appliance is effectedvia said cord.
 5. A vacuum cleaning appliance according to claim 1,whereinsaid telescopic middle piece has an electric connection, the handgrip has at least one plug-like pin engageable with the electricconnection for electrical connection of the hand grip to said telescopicmiddle piece.
 6. A vacuum cleaning appliance according to claim 5,whereinthe telescopic middle piece has at both ends at least onereceptacle for the plug-like pin, said receptacles constituting saidelectric connection.
 7. A vacuum cleaning appliance according to claim5, whereinthe hand grip has an attachment flange on which the plug-likepin is formed, and said attachment flange is releasably attachable tosaid handle and is arranged eccentrically with respect to a lengthwisedirection of the hand grip.
 8. A vacuum cleaning appliance according toclaim 7, whereinsaid hand grip is releasably attachable to saidtelescopic middle piece of said handle, and the eccentric arrangement ofsaid attachment flange is such that there is only a small lengthwiseoverlap between said hand grip and said telescopic middle piece in anattached condition of said hand grip and said telescopic middle piece.